"Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day"

[agray]

I've just made the 100% whole wheat hearth bread. I was already a fan of the recipe from his Whole Grain Breads book - this one is a definite improvement. Not only is it less work (you don't have to do the soaker and pre-ferment), but the result is better. I used some locally ground Red Fife wheat, which makes quite a dense loaf using the previous recipe. This one has a noticeably better crumb - lighter in texture, less crumbly and tastes delicious. I'm still not getting much in the way of oven spring (I didn't with the recipe in the previous book either), but I don't mind; it's a very nice bread.

Looking forward to trying the Challa and the biscuits. And his directions for croissants are so clear that I'm considering tackling those too.

[ericthered]

I've had the book for about a month. I also have his Whole Grains book and have borrowed the Baker's Apprentice one from the library. I liken this new one to a "simplified greatest hits with a few new tracks." Many of the recipes appear in earlier books, but the ones in this book are simplified and allow for more flexible fermentation times. These fit my busy schedule much better. For example, I'm eating focaccia as I write. The recipe in the new book is very similar to the ones in the prior books, but is simpler and says I can leave the dough in the fridge to ferment for four days (whenever I have time to bake). Though it turns out that four days is pushing it, it did open a new window for me. The focaccia is excellent. Similar experience with a few other recipes thus far. These are NOT speed recipes (the "fast" in the title is a misnomer unless you ignore fermentation time) and the emphasis remains on flavor development, but with more flexibility and slightly simplified. For example, where many of recipes in the Whole Grains book call for a two-part "epoxy" method, this book keeps it all in one bowl. The book is smaller/thinner, contains fewer recipes, and is not as visually appealing as the Whole Grains or Baker's Apprentice volumes, but better organized and the photos are more helpful.

[agray]

The book is smaller/thinner, contains fewer recipes, and is not as visually appealing as the Whole Grains or Baker's Apprentice volumes, but better organized and the photos are more helpful.

Yes - that's something I've definitely appreciated. Instead of the standard staged photo of the finished product and maybe one of a step along the way, many of the recipes have multiple shots of each step, clearly showing what it looks like when you follow the recipe properly.

[agray]

I've been baking more from this book recently and I thought I'd add a few thoughts to this thread, based on my experience so far.

I've heard this book described elsewhere as 'Reinhart Lite', and I don't think that's quite fair. Though I suppose if it means that this is a slim book, or a good introduction to his baking techniques, then it is a bit more accurate. As someone who owns several of Peter's other books I definitely think this one's worth buying. He hasn't just simplified the recipes in the way someone might 'dumb down' a book for beginners: he's improved them, often removing some unnecessary steps where possible, but also adding techniques that were less common when he wrote the earlier versions, such as using stretch and fold to noticeably increase the oven spring and structure of the bread (I really noticed this with the Pain A L'Ancienne baguettes) and extending the use of the refrigerator for slow fermentation.

I think it would be an ideal book for someone just getting into home artisan baking. Bread Baker's Apprentice has much more about the science of baking as well as having more recipes, and would be a great step up from this one. As with all his books, you can tell the recipes have been exhaustively tested, and I haven't found any errors or confusing instructions at all.

So far, I've re-made many of my favourites from previous books, and found them all to have been improved. The baguettes have higher spring, and are easier to bake (though take a little more time the night before). The whole wheat is also simpler, and tastes better. The pizza dough rises higher than his previous recipe (stretch and fold, I presume).

Next I'm going to try my hand at sourdough again (I had some issues with it before with Bread Baker's Apprentice) as well as some of his sweet breads, and finally, croissants.

[Anna N]

BUMP!

I bought the Kindle version of the book for my i-Touch and have so far baked 3 breads: Soft White Sandwich

,

Soft Rye

and the Soft Cheese Bread (sorry no photo) and all were highly successful. I halved each recipe so that I could mix and knead in my Thermomix and I am so very pleased that I am anxious to try more. It's just that 2 people can only eat so much bread!